I have neglected polishing my topsides for some time, now when I pass my hand on the topsides they come out white, very white. Someone at the club told me it was badly oxidized gelcoat. How do I fix this correctly? And then what is the correct maintenance for it? How often should I polish it?

Last year I bought a boat from SoCal. It was badly oxidized (although not as bad as yours it sounds). I was too lazy/busy to do it myself so I hired it done. The guy did it in the water and it cost me about $10/foot. He did a nice job. I since will do a quick wax with a good cleaner/wax. I'm not a purist. I like my boat to look decent, but I don't want to spend an entire weekend polishing and waxing. I can do one side of the boat by hand in a couple hours. I'll do it when we're out for the weekend tied up to a dock somewhere. I'll work on it while my wife is napping.

someone to detail it is pretty cheap around here. i see them knock out several boats in a few hours (always many people working at once)
if u dont have the stuff, it prob around the same price.
if u want to do it- get a good buffer-i like 7" and im a personal fan of Meguiar's products. good start seen here: Meguiar's Direct Fiberglass Restoration System
lots of elbow grease and time.
polish as needed to keep it purdy.... different for area

Copy this link...it's the key to gleaming topsides. With no previous experience, I followed them on a 30 footer with excellent results. I had searched the net thoroughly, and this is the best advice I found by far. Thank you Sailnet!

A guy could fiddle around with a discount store orbital polisher and the usual products and get poor results, or he could follow the instructions, use the right tool, pads, and compounds, and get stunning results with about the same effort. Just sayin'.

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